Comic-Con: Day 3

Yesterday was a mix of panels and emotions (see? see what I did there?).

It was another early-to-rise, long day of panels, again, all T.V. This time I made the fifth row (and later moved to fourth). Woot!

Chuck: It started with Chuck, which I don’t watch, but I was happy to see Adam Baldwin (Jossverse alum!) on the panel. I made a video of him eating the Hershey Kisses they leave on the table for the panelists; I’m going to put it on YouTube. Someone asked the panel if they were going to make action figures, and Baldwin quipped, “I would like another one.” And the crowd went wild, and it was hilarious. (Reference to his Jayne action figure(s) from Firefly). I love how huuuuge Joss Whedon is here. The guy who plays Chuck made fun of him: “Oh, I have an action figure. Oh, I was on Firefly…” Then he mimicked his own action figure beating up a Jayne action figure and yelled, “You’re not so shiny now, are you???” (Firefly reference). Ha, awesome. On that note, at the 24 panel, Freddie Prinze Jr. mentioned that he had been watching 24 with his wife, uh, something, something, something. Anyway, the word “wife” totally set off the crowd (he’s married to SMG, who played Buffy). To which he said, “oh yeah, I forgot, she’s huge here.”

Back to Chuck, they also showed a clip of the Chuck actor sitting with the show’s creators who were talking about life after being cancelled, to which the Chuck actor kept replying with, “but we haven’t been cancelled yet!” Then they get a phone call saying they’ve been renewed and they panick ’cause they didn’t plan for this and they have no new ideas, plus they gave Chuck kung fu skills that they now have to deal with. Anyway, the creators just turn to two guys (cast from the show) wearing Jeffster shirts, and they “you’re on.” Then they came on stage and Jeffster (a fictional band from the show, like on The Office!) rocked out and the audience got on their feet and it was hilarious. Look for it onYouTube, someone must have it on there by now.

Family Guy/The Cleveland Show: The Family Guy panel was kind of interesting. I was happy to see Seth Green on there (Jossverse alum!) and the rest of the cast as well as Seth MacFarlane were pretty funny. They showed a clip from the next Star Wars spoof, and I have to say I laughed pretty hard. Kudos. By the way, it’s kind of strange and distracting to watch something with the creator sitting right infront of you. Wheird. The clips from The Cleveland Show, however, were really, really not funny. Like, not at all. Do not watch this show. Even if you like Family Guy, it’s not even in the same zip code of funny. Don’t do it.

Futurama: Sadly, none of the voice actors were at the panel because of labour disputes, but Matt Groening was hilarious. He was absolutely fixated on giving out prizes to people asking questions and he didn’t even seem to care about answering them. I wouldn’t be surprised to find him on the street corner trying to hustle with his own merch. In any case, not much was shown or talked about. Next!

The Simpsons: Again, Matt Groening was mainly giving out prizes to Q&A people while other writers answered questions. Although, he did say that he and Danny Elfman make the “s” sound at the end of “The Simpsons” at the beginning of the credits. Fun trivia! Then someone from the Guiness Book of World Records came out and gave them two honours, one for the longest running sitcom in the world and another for being voted one of the most important records in the last 100 years. Good for them! To which Matt Groening shouted to the crowd, “There is no end in sight. Simpsons forever!”

V: New show based on an old show. Yes, someone made the BSG comparison. On the panel were the entire cast, including Morena Baccarin (Jossverse alum!) who made the crowd crazy. The showed the entire pilot episode, which was actually pretty good, except it really reminded me of The 4400, which couldn’t hold my attention past the first half season. But we’ll see!

Fringe: I don’t watch this show either, it’s also looks too much like another X-Files wannabe, although I have heard good things about it. Mulder (Josh Jackson) was adorable and really egged the crowd on. It was adorable. They threw t-shirts to people who answered trivia questions. Points for effort! Didn’t show much other than a montage of the past season, but the Q&A was fun.

True Blood: This was the panel I was waiting for. Oh man, most people in the audience were wearing TB-themed shirts, mostly girls with shirts that said “fang banger.” *ahem* One guy had fangs and a bottle of true blood. Eeck. Anyway, when the entire cast walked on stage, the crowd was the loudest I’ve heard it so far. Possibly even louder than for Joss Whedon (*tear*) but I think that was partly for the hot guys in the cast. Charlaine Harris (author of the books) and Alan Ball (show creator and American Beauty/Six Feet Under guy of fame) were also on the panel. Have you ever seen what Charlaine Harris looks like? Look at her picture and then think about the sex and violence (often simultaneous) on the show. Actually, that would be really weird. So don’t. And then they showed a trailer for the second half of the second season, and it was possibly the most exciting thing I’ve seen at the con so far. Please watch this show. Please. Not that it needs the ratings! Booyah! Also, it was Anna Paquin’s birthday.

Following the True Blood panel, I promptly went to the exhibition hall to see if I won the raffle for the Dr. Horrible signing – I did not. 😦 Joss Whedon (and Zack Whedon!) was mere steps from me but I couldn’t get his autograph or take a picture with him like all these other stupid, lucky people. It was heartbreaking. I’m sure you can feel my pain. Although, I did take a picture of me with Joss in the background… talking to some other fan…

And then the day was over! That night, I went to the overflow room (not the live show, but where they screen it for people who didn’t spend all day in line) to watch the Masquerade. If you’ve been to a convention, like FanExpo in Toronto, you know what this is. People in costumes either parade around on stage or do little skits in their costumes. It’s pretty fun. I had the strangest bit of deja vu, though. Mainly about the guy who hosted it (who always hosts it) and the way they call out the contestants (the host goes, “And here’s contestant number…” and the audience yells out “26 ha ha ha” (or whatever number it is). It’s a tradition. Ask me whenever I see you next, and I’ll do the laugh for you.

That’s it for Saturday. Today I’ll be wandering around the exhibition floor and trying to see the musical episode of Buffy to cap off the con. And tonight I’ll try to talk more about the con as a whole (like the crazy people here, and how San Diego turns geek for a few days every year).

Zalina Alvi, I’ve never been so jealous of you in my life. *I* want to be mere steps away from Joss (and Zack!) Whedon. *I* want to see Kristen Bell, Seth Green, hell, even the True Blood panel at the con. (By the way, I finished episode 6, and I’m still not convinced, but *!* Who would kill dear old granny?? What kind of monster [or monster-hater]??)

I wish you luck in getting to see OMWF… I have faith. Also, dude — the con’s not over yet. There’s still time to get Zack!

Damn you for not convincing me it was absolutely necessary to my life to go with you.